Layer Cake Review

So worried does "Lock Stock" producer-turned-director Matthew Vaughn seem to be of being compared to his mate Guy Ritchie that his new crime thriller "Layer Cake" boasts neither Vinnie Jones nor, more unfortunately, the hip, fun humour that made "Lock Stock" such a hit.

Adapted from J.J. Connolly's novel with a title alluding to the layers of power that make up the cake of London criminal life, the latest addition to the British gangster genre stars Daniel Craig as a drug dealer who fancies he's got the profession licked. But just as he's about to get out of the game complete with his millions and his life, his supplier Jimmy Price calls him in to ask a favour: find the missing daughter of Michael Gambon's crime boss and offload a small mountain of ecstasy pills. But as is always the case with that 'one last job,' it soon turns out to be anything but simple.

So does "Layer Cake" obliterate such stinkers as "Rancid Aluminium" from the memory? Well, the answer has to be yes and no. Thanks largely to the charismatic Daniel Craig - the only unfamiliar face in a cast full of British thesps who must make their livings out of gangster flicks - you're never bored despite the twisty plot flipping and flopping so much it soon runs out of energy.

But while you might admire Vaughn's cool, calm and collected manner of direction in comparison to Ritchie's frenzied style, it lacks the requisite amount of pizzazz or originality to make this movie anything more than a slightly superior but not all that exciting example of its genre.

And this DVD release certainly doesn't cut corners when it comes to extras. This jam-packed disc includes an audio commentary, alternative endings, deleted scenes, a Q&A session filmed at London's National Film Theatre, a 'Making Of' featurette and a music video.